Why Do We Play?

If you are reading this, it probably means you that are a musician or performer of some kind. It may also mean that something has happened that negatively affects your ability to practice your art. Or maybe you are reading this proactively, before something happens. Either way, you are searching for the way to be able to perform your art in the most comfortable and productive way possible. Before you read any further, you need to consider “Why do I have to continue to perform? What is it about music/performance and my life that makes it inconceivable to quit, even if it is causes me physical and/or mental/spiritual pain?” If you have an answer to this question, great! If not, this is something that you should consider very carefully, as the answer can greatly impact the success of any treatment for any condition that you may be experiencing.


There are many reasons why people play music or are performers. Most start because they love the art and feel like they have a form of self-expression open to them. If someone is pursuing music or performance as a career and it is the primary or a significant part of their earning power, there can be many outside forces that can interfere with these pleasurable and positive aspects of the art. It is very important that you continue to find joy and fulfillment in your art. If performing or playing music has become painful in all aspects, mental, spiritual and physical, then it may be time to reassess why you continue.

Music making and/or performing involves a healthy amount of ego. You must be convinced that your contribution, whether as a soloist or in a group, is integral to the performance. If too much ego is involved then a musician/performer will suffer and make others around him or her suffer as well. Too little ego and the person is consumed with fear every time he or she has to perform. This can also lead to obsessive practice which in turn can lead to physical problems. It can also lead to “self-medicating”, using legal or illegal substances, to help “calm the nerves”. Either one of these can be destructive for the performer.

If a person’s’ sole purpose in life is to be the “best” at their art, this too can lead to negative consequences. While wanting to be the best is great in many ways, if it is the sole purpose, it will be a difficult goal to achieve. There will be people who are better than you at various points throughout your career!

As in any career, the music “business” and the “business” of performing any art, can be cut-throat. Competition is built into the system and thick skin and healthy self-esteem are necessary tools for survival. Knowing this and being prepared for it will help performers make decisions about their careers. Maintaining high personal standards of conduct may seem, in some instances, impossible. Nevertheless, by maintaining one’s own personal code of conduct and not being pressured into uncomfortable situations, a performer will be better able to maintain a healthy approach to his/her art form.

The healthiest approach is to be the best that you can be, both as an individual performer and in the way you interact within a group. Be confident in your contribution, but be open to growth, both as a performer and as a human being. By always being open to growth and change, you will be able to approach music in an exciting and creative way that will allow you to perform for the entirety of your life. Know that music and other types of performance are incredibly powerful forces in many people’s lives. A performance, musical or otherwise, can move people to action, for good or ill. It can rally the troops, soothe the soul, calm the baby and incite a riot. My favorite teacher had a plaque in his studio which read “The aim and final reason for all music should be nothing less than the glory of God and the recreation of the spirit” - Johann Sebastian Bach. A Japanese philosopher once said “Art is a weapon for realizing peace. It is also an expression of supreme victory in life. Every drop of sweat shed for the sake of art adds to the river of human peace and culture” – Daisaku Ikeda. By striving to create value with one’s performance, the artist can be proud of his or her contribution to society and achieve a mental and spiritual satisfaction with that contribution. And these two things are key to maintaining one’s physical health and the ability to perform unencumbered.

Why this Blog, Why Now?

Today I want to introduce myself and give you a bit of background into why I set up this blog. I have been playing flute for forty years. In my late teens and twenties I was involved in a series of car accidents. (I have at this point been involved in almost 20 major or minor collisions!) By the time I was 34, I was experiencing pain every time I picked up the instrument, throughout the upper body, the back and in my wrists and hands. At times, it hurt just to breathe. I tried every allopathic treatment available at the time, ultra-sound, hot packs, pain medication that made my stomach bleed, physical therapy, and even at one point visualization. The latter worked but it was time-consuming and required a discipline that I did not have at the time. Out of desperation I started seeing a chiropractor, Dr. Seplow. He asked me if I wanted to just get some pain relief or if I wanted to fix the problem. I said I wanted to fix the problem. It took a while but now I play and practice every day, usually pain-free. And if I do experience pain, I know how to work on myself or who to call to fix the problem. I have worked with some amazing healers, who have shown me amazing results from therapies that I would never have considered trying before this. I have worked with acupuncturists, massage therapists, chiropractors, NMT and NAET practitioners, Bach Flower therapists, herbalists and those trained in homeopathy. All of them have had wonderful things to contribute to the healing process. Each person I worked with was patient with me and my seemingly endless questions. When the time came to do my doctoral work on alternative therapies and wind players, several of them graciously volunteered to be interviewed for my research. My own journey in healing and my observations of the struggles that other performers go through, has inspired me to put this blog together. I hope that it is a useful addition, and that those who read it find hope and useful information in the it.

One of the main reasons for this blog is that most information about musicians/performer’s health is presented by practitioners of a particular type of healing system, i.e. acupuncture, chiropractic care or allopathic doctors. These tend to represent the practitioner’s particular practice as the one that will cure most if not all ills. Every human being is different and what works for one person may not work for another. There will be nothing in the blog that has not had success with someone somewhere. So at the very least there is what is called anecdotal evidence for newer or lesser-known therapies. Also, in spite of the fact that musicians have been getting injured for over at least hundred years (think Robert Schumann!) traditional therapies are not always as effective as one might hope. Traditional physicians are generally not attuned to the special needs of the performing artist. Although this is changing somewhat, rest, immobilization, steroids, injections, pain killers and surgery are usually the options that are offered by allopathic physicians. And there is evidence that these are not always effective or even an option for the musician. Worker’s compensation, retraining or new technology like voice-recognition soft-ware may help the computer programmer, but these are usually not options for the musician or performer either. However, there are a lot of other options available through alternative therapies. I will present these option and how they can help musicians ( and of course anyone else!). Please let me know if any of these have worked (or not worked!) for you. And remember, every person is unique. What works for one person may not work for another. The important thing to remember is that there are lots of options. It may take a while, but if you are struggling with a condition that limits the expression of your art, it is worth it to keep trying until you find what works for you. Every musician/artist is unique and has a wonderful contribution to make. Just never give up! The world needs our contribution!

Wrist/Arm/Hand/Neck/Back Pain?

Okay, so the gig is over and your wrist and hands are aching. You go to bed and think, "It will be better after a good night's sleep". You wake up in the morning and your wrists feel swollen and and you can't hold a cup of coffee without pain. Panic sets in as your imagination runs wild........ No need to panic! First of all this has probably been building up over time. A little stiffness, a little aching, we take some Tylenol and forget about it. This may make the symptoms go away, but it will not solve the underlying cause of the problem. More likely than not, the problem is Repetitive Stress Injury. Even if the symptoms seem to resemble Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, the underlying cause may still be Repetitive Stress Injury, which can cause knots in the muscle that can pinch the nerve, causing symptoms that are almost identical to CTS. Repetitive Stress Injury is caused by repeated motion over time that is confined to a particular muscle group. Hmmm, sounds like just what we musicians do! Now here's the deal: because musicians work with pretty much all the muscles in the upper body, some of these muscle groups, (like in the hands or even the wrist and arms) are composed of relatively small muscles. This makes them even more susceptible to this type of injury. A large muscle, like the thigh muscle, may take quite a bit of punishment before it develops RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury) but smaller muscle groups can develop this condition relatively quickly.

Okay so next is what to do about it. There are a number of options available that can help with this. We will start with the least invasive and most readily available option. If at all possible, get yourself a really good professional massage. This is the first line of defense against this type of injury. Just as sports teams have their massage therapists for all those big muscles groups they use, musicians should have massage therapists for those pesky small muscle groups we use over and over. If you are a student on a college campus, the college health center may offer massage for a reasonable fee. If you live near a massage school, this is a great way to get a massage for a good price. Sometimes, a certain amount of massage therapy will be covered by insurance, you just have to check with your company.
So what is massage?
Massage is used by traditional and alternative practitioners. The practice of massage is one of the oldest forms of therapies for which there is a record. Massage is mentioned in Chinese texts written as early as 2700 BC. The Greeks and Egyptians also show massage in their artwork. Hippocrates referred to massage in his writings in the fifth century BC. Currently, many doctors and physical therapists are beginning to recommend massage as an adjunct to their therapy. It has been recommended for conditions as varied as joint injuries, neck and back pain, arthritis and migraines. Many athletic teams have massage therapists on staff, as do many professional dance companies. Because massage therapists are trained in massage, not medicine, many of them refer to their patients as clients rather than patients. This helps prevent any misunderstanding as to the relationship between the therapist and the client. The Western and Eastern traditions have developed different theories and techniques of massage. The first type of massage that will be addressed in the next post is the Western tradition of massage.

Get Rid of Allergies?

Okay all you musicians! (and non-musicians for that matter!) If you know you have allergies, then you are aware that the symptoms can really make playing a challenge. It doesn't matter if you are a singer, wind player or string player, drummer, rock, classical or hip-hop artist, trying to play with a stuffy nose, watery eyes, coughing, sneezing etc. is no fun. And if you take anti-histamines, trying to perform while sleepy and/or dry-mouth is a challenge as well. At this point I am only referring to seasonal allergies and the symptoms they generate. In a previous blog, I referred to histaminum hydrochloride as a great way to temporarily relieve seasonal allergy symptoms. But you can actually get rid of many if not all of your allergies. There are several ways that can work to relieve allergy symptoms. The first is an alternative technique called "NAET" (Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique) http://www.naet.com/. This particular method involves very strict protocols and avoidance of the allergy causing substances. The second, NMT (Neuro Modulation Technique) relieves allergies with simple muscle testing and a protocol that doesn't involve avoidance. The only catch is that occasionally the allergy may come back and need to be retreated. This may indicate that NAET would be a better treatment method for this particular allergy. I had many allergies and NMT took care of about 90% of them. The other 10% I needed to use NAET to get a lasting result. NMT is quicker and easier, so when it works, it is great. But sometimes you need NAET to create a lasting effect. More information about NMT can be found at http://www.nmt.md/IntroductionToNMT.cfm.

If you want to try getting rid of your allergies on your own (seasonal allergies caused by pollen etc.) you can try eating small amounts of bee pollen. Bee pollen contains minute amounts of allergy causing pollens, so eating small amounts over time can create a kind of "vaccine" like effect, causing the body to adjust to the allergens. By doing this during the non-allergy season you may keep your body from over-reacting when the allergens appear again during the pollen season.

The last method for getting rid of allergies is pretty gross sounding, but those people who have tried it swear by it. And according to some data, it also can relieve some auto-immune disorders such as Crohn's disease. It is to get infected with hookworms. According to the theory, hookworms evolved with human beings. In order to infect their human host, they need to calm the immune system by secreting certain substances. These same substances calm the immune system for other purposes as well, thereby relieving the symptoms of those conditions brought on by an immune system that is overreacting to either it's own body or to foreign substances (like pollen). Okay now, personally I have not tried this one, as I found the NMT and NAET did the trick for me and my family. But those people who have tried this swear by it and say that it has totally transformed their lives. You can find more information on this type of therapy at http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/3989/33077/treatment-hookworms and http://cbs5.com/health/hookworm.treatment.therapy.2.1016319.html

Good luck! IF you do try or have tried any of these methods, let me know how they work for you. Happy allergy free playing!